I think it’s fair to say that those who attempt to discuss the issues surrounding AIM, the bogus fund raising, the ransacking of WK2 during their occupation, the murders and crime committed then, the abduction, beating and murder of Annie, and the fairytale evolving around Peltier, haven’t the resources to hire investigators or access every pertinent document.
Add to this having to wade through the decades long morass of lies and misinformation AIM has produced and some will either give up or begin to accept what is said without doing the homework themselves.
AIM and the Peltierites goal has always been to direct the focus to the feds-in doing this AIM and Peltier can be presented as hapless victims.
But the reality remains that murder is murder and it is of no consequence whether AIM was having a bad hair day due to “paranoia” or any other excuse-people are dead at their hands, nothing changes that.
Not having investigators, unlimited access, or being a mindless drone, I’m not interested in working both sides of the fence, due in part because if the truth becomes known everyone responsible will go down-that and I’m not interested in making excuses or attempting to exonerate AIM or Peltier.
So I’m inclined to view this as a division of labor -let the AIM and Peltier supporters work their side of the fence and the rest of us will work our side.
Of course this assumes an honesty and integrity on both sides-that is if both sides share the same concern for truth and justice.
To say that neither AIM or Peltier bear a responsibility due to informants, the feds, or paranoia sound pitifully like a revised version of the Nuremburg trials where Nazi war criminals sought to exonerate themselves by saying they were only following orders-that a larger irrestible force compelled them to do so-didn’t work then and doesn’t work now.
In the perfect world both sides would work diligently, share a common goal, and meet in the middle-a middle which should exist in an imperfect world and based on understanding that all fail, that no one, no agency, no organization, no government is above reproach.
To attempt to even suggest such a circumstance is foolish. I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and having been there I know for a fact the AIM Peltier side is riddled with inconsistencies, lies, and propaganda. It is cultish in nature and requires blind obedience above all else.
To question or deviate from the approved position is to risk being ostracized, labelled any number of things, and generally castigated. That isn’t an environment that seeks the truth, only blind allegiance.
A side that has had the luxury of four plus decades to refine their version, and yet we see as the truth becomes incrementally known their version is falling apart at the seams.
As I’ve stated previously I believe either the AIM leadership as a combined entity, or singularly as individuals, gave up Peltier for a handful of get of jail free passes.
The necessary cover story has played out as the so called marches and free Leonard rallys.
I also believe this same leadership has rolled over whenever it served their purpose, and what has resulted is a dyfunctional symbiotic relationship between them and their handlers. A leaking boat where if either stops bailing it will sink taking everyone down.
Such a relationship goes a long way in explaining why indictments that should have been executed long ago remain little more than vague rumors wafting about on predictable occasion.
Despite recorded conversations, witnesses, and court trial Banks remains untouchable-Clyde gets busted for dealing drugs in a such a large amount he is classified as a major distributor and yet does a mere two years.
Russell gets busted and does a year playing secreatry for Abourezk’s law firm-that means he’s out everyday with the possible exception of weekends-not exactly hard time is it? Then lo and behold the old Indian hater “Wild Bill” Janklow grants him a pardon. Talk about the benefits of friends in high places.
Crow Dog gets busted and we are expected to believe the public and global outcry for this “holyman” who is leading the charge in commercializing ceremonies was such that he gets what has become the AIM slap on the wrist.
The reality of the work place is there are always those who will do the work and those who will slack off and devise ways to make it appear they’re actually doing something-an equitable “division of labor”.
I actually had someone tell once while working a job to slow down, I was making others look bad-that it wasn’t what you did but how you looked while doing it. In others words just look like you’re actually doing something while doing as little as you could get a way with.
That’s what AIM and the Peltierites are about, trying to look good while not doing much of anything than obfuscating.
So my advice to the AIM and Peltier supporters is to do their routine on their side of the fence and those of us who really want justice will do the actual work-but they need to continue looking over their shoulder as we are in their track, staying there, and gaining ground.
AIM is in our midst doing what they have always done-and that must be our focus, to cure this cancer that has infested the nations. When we accomplish that all with any measure of complicity reagrdless of who or where they are will be removed as well.
That is the goal, the ultimate good that will serve the nations.
PROVIDE YOUR IDENTITY,AND POST OTHERS COMMENTS I THINK WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE.YOUR CONSTANT ATTACKS ON the american indian movement leaders seems a bit like fbi misinformation…any way there are a lot of things today our people indiginous people would like addressed like native american graves protection act i think these are importaint..what do you think…
Well Lonnie I would think if there’s no truth to what is said
in this blog and elsewhere the “warriors” would respond and
deny it don’t you? By that I mean individuals like Banks and Clyde.
The reason they don’t is they are unable to, if they attempt
to speak of such things in any place other than one that will
coddle them and not ask the hard questions they don’t have
an answer.
I’ve also stated I have friends in AIM who are good people,
concerned about the welfare of the nations, who in addition don’t
have a high opinion of the so called leadership.
These are the people who should be representing AIM, not a bunch
of boated self enriched pretenders or wannabe gang bangers.
Since you have several opinions about what I will address or
what I should do how about a question or two for you?
Why doesn’t LPDOC or any of the pro AIM sites allow opposing
comments on their sites? Why don’t they identify the source of
their revenue and make it public?
AIM isn’t and has never been a people’s movement that allowed
the input of those it claims to represent-no national vote or
referendums that would allow indigenous people of every nation
to have a voice in the direction it would take.
I’m willing to bet you never address the murders AIM has committed,
never mention Annie Mae or Ray Robinson, those unmarked graves at
WK2, but I bet you’ve got that the feds did it thing down pat, all
the denials and propaganda memorized.
Since this isn’t your blog what you believe to be relevant pertaining
to what I should or shouldn’t do is irrelevant, and you can call it
whatever you like.
Constant attacks? How about the constant attacks AIM has authored
for four plus decades against tradition? Try reading the ’99 Oyate
statement for starters. Then ask yourself why none of these “patriots”,
“liberators” and “wannabe chiefs” who are all about the people and
tradition didn’t honor the call of traditional leadership to explain
themselves?
I’ve stated several times in this blog I used to be a Peltier supporter
but it was these very questions that couldn’t be answered-his own
words as quoted in the FOI blogs, undeniable facts as they emerged
that woke me up.
I’m secure in who and what I am-I don’t need to prove my Indianess
by supporting AIM or Peltier-anyone who gets caught up in that is a
fool.
If you think “men” like Banks and Peltier who will break and run leaving
women behind to fend for themselves, one of them pregnant, are warriors
or leaders, then all I can say is you are prime AIM material.
Likewise if you think they can enrich themselves and live levels above
everyone else like Russell with his ranch, his digs in New Mexico and
Santa Monica-with their never running out of propane and the bare necessities,
or having to stuff newspaper in cracks and broken windows during the
winter as others do makes them “spiritual” then you haven’t a clue
of what leadership or tradition is about.
What I do know about the resmurs is a lot them are bogus claims advanced
by AIM, part of the cover story and misdirection. If you have the alleged
list go over it and any you think deserve a second look list them in another
response and we’ll discuss them.
I’m also convinced we will probably never know the complete truth from either
side, but enough exists to take down the predators among us, and the fact that
they haven’t been speaks to other things.
You want to talk about our people-then look to the rez and our communities,
that is where the work must begin. If they are dysfunctional and presided
over by petty warlords carving out personal fiefdoms we can never hope
to pursue justice wherever it may lead us.
As long as a single woman of ours isn’t safe, a single child endures abuse,
or a single manipulating thief lives among us or attempts to postion
themselves as being representative or a spokesperson not much is going
to change.
You don’t clean your house from the outside-you begin inside and then
expand to other areas-something AIM shudders at the mere thought of while
relying on others to be the frontman and defend them.
I agree-there are a lot of things we need to address-and they for the most
part begin within our communities-communities that are supposed to be
a haven for a people, a safe place where families can grow and be secure.
To me the pursuit of such outweighs other considerations, and will produce
a strong and vibrant community of people capable of addressing a myriad
of other inequities.
We need to rise as a tradition based people, faithful to the precepts
handed down to us by those who fought, bled, and died for them during
the last five centuries rather than being further dragged down into the
abyss AIM would take us.
We need to be individuals dedicated to a common welfare, not drones
for the AIM/Peltier hive.
Something more than implying a truth ” seems a bit like fbi misinformation”.
Now I think I’ve responded to all your comments as they’ve been posted
around, this is meant to address them all rather than going to each individually.
I may have come on a little strong, but in truth I’m a little tired of the bs
though your intentions may be otherwise.
Lonnie: Start here by providing some answers ,instead of sweeping rhetoric:
http://www.noparolepeltier.com/response.html#7
…and…http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#fraud
Lonnie: Rezinate doesn’t have to prove his identity or anything else; his logic and prose speaks for itself. As for misinformation, there is more in the 242 pages of Prison Writings than anywhere else in this saga. You seem reasonable enough…then offer the counter-proof, but don’t start with Cointelpro, that song doesn’t work anymore…begin with June 26, 1975…
A-Men.
As to the grave protection comment, we Lakota wished AIM had respected the common grave of the Lakota who died there in 1890, instead of using the already dead bodies interned there…. to mask the bodies of AIM supporters who wanted out of WK, & were murdered, their 12 bodies hidden behind the church, in the dry creek bed & above up on the hillside….While others, real Indians (needed for the cameras filming) Buddy Lamont & Crow Dog’s supporters, were held at gunpoint by AIM leadership to keep them from leaving after only several weeks into the staged event, Seige of WK, resulting in the murder of Buddy Lamont by Banks, not the FBI…. for challenging Banks authority of holding them there against their will.
We have the newspaper articles from the duration of the Seige of WK, & what is written there differs from what is written by academia today, & we understand why.
What the newspapers ran with was what AIM & buddy, Abourezk gave them….
The same reason why AIM & Abourezk showed their hand at the Dakota Conference, they feel they are above the law….
They in their minds, they are the law…
No so, only Creator’s laws are supreme.
Rezinate is not preaching sweeping rhetoric, nor propaganda…your false heros & role models are the very people they say they are fighting against…!
If you are too blind to see it, you do not want to acknowledge the obvious, because it does not serve any of you nay sayers to do so!
If you continue believing AIM’s pack of lies, you will believe anything, & have….!
Whatever the case, it will not stop our pursuit of the truth, & the justice what we find demands.
No one says it better or more truthful than Rezinate…if you do not agree, go gossip among yourselves, & leave the solution decisions to the adults.
Brief portion of Pilgrimage to Pine Ridge:
Backtracking I found a sign and then realized that on top of the hill I’d overlooked was the cemetery and marker for Wounded Knee. The massacre at Wounded Knee in the winter of 1890 was the defining event in the First American’s long and painful history with the white man. It’s significance no less crucial to later America than Pearl Harbor and 9/11. It sprang from a growing hysteria that the reservation-confined Indians were engaging in ceremonial activities that would lead to more bloodshed. The hatred on both sides from the Indian Wars was still simmering. A resurgence of some hope among the natives rested in the belief that the desperation of reservation life would soon come to an end with the arrival of a new messiah, not unlike like the white man’s, but an Indian this time, who would return their freedom and hunting grounds. The Ghost Dance became their ritual, but the white ranchers, farmers, traders and merchants only saw it as a threat. The U.S. Army, alerted and pressured, moved in to ensure security of the region.
On the same spot where I now stood a battery of army Hotchkiss cannons and Gatling guns were poised to force the surrender of the old and ill, Chief Big Foot, and his Miniconjou band of men, some elderly, and women and children. The prevailing belief is that the conflict started by accident, a misunderstood gesture or accidental discharge of a weapon, but it was all that was needed for the surrounding army to lay waste to everyone: When the killing ended, by later official government reports, 290 lay dead, including 200 women and children. A number of these were buried in a mass snowy grave. Although most of the soldiers were killed by their own crossfire, the government later awarded sixteen soldiers the Medal of Honor. 4 For those, especially in the mass grave, their frozen silence marked the end of most efforts to escape Reservation life. The government’s efforts to contain the Indian once and for all seemed to be accomplished.
Eight decades later, in 1973, this same place would mark the beginning of yet another period of conflict between Native Americans and the U.S. Government. It’s commonly referred to as Wounded Knee II, as the American Indian Movement struggled for recognition and self-determination of native peoples and the government responded to what it viewed as lawless insurrection and a violation of federal laws. That conflict essentially ended two years later in a secluded area just south of Oglala on property owned by the Jumping Bull family; and was the reason for my own visit to the Reservation.
The mass grave and its marker are surrounded by a fence and an archway of stone, brick, and wrought iron. The stone is decayed, chipped and defaced with graffiti, the wrought iron rusted, and the road leading to the top of the hill, rutted, and with the rain, now muddy. It was indeed a sad testament to such sacrifice. Leaving, I stopped to look at a large roadside sign which told the story of the “Massacre” of Wounded Knee. It was badly faded and barely readable and also surrounded by mud. I couldn’t help but notice on the sign that “Massacre” had been added on-placed over what was there. I assumed it may have originally read “Battle.” Apparent too were a number of bullet holes.
DRIVING BACK TOWARDS Pine Ridge the melancholy of the day and what I had just seen added to an already deep sense of compassion for those who struggled to survive at Pine Ridge. I also knew the statistics; the poorest county in the nation, the highest average unemployment rate at 80% plus, rampant poverty, endemic alcoholism and everything that disease fosters, and a general malaise and hopelessness of many of its residents.
Reblogged this on Looking Back Woman-Suzanne Dupree blog and commented:
Loud & clear….fire in the hold!
thank you LBW